Painting a picture

A fascinating blog post that speaks precisely of the area in which we are making Furnace Park. It’s a strange serendipity that on the 1873 map, the space occupied by what is now the Furnace Park site is marked out in a red pen…. We have also done a little research on the Jewish community that lived in this area in the 19th century. See https://occursus.org/2012/06/15/quiet-flows-the-don/

After leaving Russia[1], my great-grandparents’ path of travel would have likely taken them through Austria-Hungary or Germany to the nearest railway station whence they would have crossed Europe to a North Sea port in Germany, Holland or Belgium. There they would have boarded a ship for England, probably travelling third class where conditions were hardly luxurious, but adequate for the two-day crossing.

Many such migrants passed through Sheffield on their way from Hull to Manchester, Liverpool and ultimately America. Some decided to stay and set up as watchmakers, jewellers or tailors. [2] My great-grandparents were among them.

Typical of migrants in a strange land, new arrivals often went directly to members of their own family who had already settled in England, or else to people from their village back home. [3] The Jewish community, which grew from a base of about 60 in the 1840’s to…